Devine named new coach at Alabama

JOHNSON CITY — East Tennessee State is looking for a new volleyball coach after the announcement Tuesday that Lindsey Devine has been named the new coach at Alabama.

Devine coached for 16 seasons at ETSU and had 28 players earn all-conference selection and three conference players of the year.

This season, the Kingsport resident was named the Southern Conference coach of the year for the second time in three years after leading the Bucs to the regular-season conference title and their highest win total (28) since 1983. ETSU earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, the first team in SoCon history to do so, marking back-to-back postseason appearances for the Bucs.

“We are extremely proud of Lindsey Devine for the years of outstanding service she has given to the ETSU volleyball program,” ETSU athletic director Scott Carter said. “We wish her tremendous success in this new chapter of her career. During Coach Devine’s tenure, she has reached tremendous heights that include winning conference championships, making trips to the NCAA tournament, including the historic at-large bid this season.

“She has recruited outstanding young women that are excellent representatives of ETSU. Coach Devine has made the volleyball head coaching position at ETSU very attractive with her leadership and success. We will now aggressively move into the search process to find a new leader for our volleyball program.

Off the court, ETSU sported a 100 percent graduation rate under Devine and earned the AVCA Team Academic Award each of the past nine years, which requires at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade point average.

“I will always cherish my coaching career at ETSU. I am extremely thankful to Dr. Brian Noland, Scott Carter, Kay Lennon, Dr. Sander and all the student-athletes for helping me grow ETSU volleyball over the past 16 years,” Devine said. “I would also like to thank my husband, Carl, and children, Megan and Owen, for their continued support over the years. We are all very excited about this next chapter and have already added ‘Roll Tide!’ to our vocabulary.”

In addition to her collegiate experience, Devine assisted the USA Youth National Team at the 2013 World Championships in Thailand, earning a silver medal. In 2014, Devine helped the USA Senior National Team to a gold medal at the NORECA Championships, and a year later, assisted the USA Youth National Team to a silver medal at the 2015 World Championships in Peru.

Devine began her coaching career at Durham Attack Volleyball Club in Ontario, where she served two years as assistant coach for the 17 Boys Elite.

Devine is a graduate of York University in Toronto, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in English, physical education and education. She received a master’s degree from ETSU in 2014 and a Global Sport Leadership Doctoral in 2018. She was an outside hitter on York’s volleyball team from 1984-88, earning four all-province titles and a bronze medal at the 1985 Canadian national championships.

Megan Devine, the coach at Dobyns-Bennett High School, played for her mother and is one of the most decorated student-athletes in ETSU volleyball history, earning AVCA All-America honors as a senior. She was also two-time Atlantic Sun player of the year and a three-time first team all-conference performer.